Kamala Harris lays out positions on China, Ukraine and Gaza | Invesloan.com

Good morning. We have exclusive stories today about AstraZeneca’s threat to move its UK vaccine manufacturing to the US and the chair of Britain’s financial watchdog facing accusations that he breached confidentiality.

But first we turn to Chicago, where Kamala Harris has just accepted the Democratic nomination for president. The vice-president closed the party’s four-day convention with a primetime address that laid out her most detailed comments yet on US foreign policy, vowing to “strengthen, not abdicate” America’s global leadership.

Harris said that as president she would ensure “America, not China, wins the competition for the 21st century” and promised to “stand strong with Ukraine and our Nato allies”. She also spoke at length about the Middle East, saying she would “always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself” while describing the scale of human suffering in Gaza as “heartbreaking”.

In comments that garnered roars of approval from the crowd, she added: “President Biden and I are working to end this war such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can realise their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.”

Speaking to tens of millions of viewers across the US, Harris also warned of the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House and said the nation had a “precious, fleeting opportunity” to chart a new path. We have more from her speech, and what comes next in the race for the White House.

• Gaza protests: As Harris spoke about the war, pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered outside the convention, warning that US backing for Israel would cost her votes.

With the end of the DNC, Harris now faces pressure to keep this surge of Democratic support alive. Sign up for our US Election Countdown newsletter for the latest updates on this next phase. And here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:

• Economic data: The European Central Bank releases its consumer expectations survey, France publishes its business confidence survey and GfK has its consumer confidence survey for the UK.

• Federal Reserve: Chair Jay Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole will be closely watched by investors after a top Fed official at the symposium warned against “self-fulfilling” pessimism on the US economy.

Thanks for reading FirstFT. Do you have any questions about the US presidential race? Email us at [email protected] or hit “reply” and remember to include your name and where you’re writing from. We’ll answer as many as possible in a special weekend edition of the newsletter.

Five more top stories

1. Exclusive: AstraZeneca has threatened to move a UK vaccine manufacturing site to the US amid a deadlock in talks over government plans to cut state aid for the project. Chancellor Rachel Reeves wants to reduce the amount of support from about £90mn pledged by the last Conservative administration to £40mn, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Anna Gross has more details.

2. Exclusive: The UK financial watchdog’s chair has been accused of breaching the confidentiality of an internal whistleblower who wrote to him asking for help, violating its code of conduct. According to emails, Ashley Alder, chair of the Financial Conduct Authority, forwarded on correspondence with the complainant’s name, address and concerns unredacted.

3. AI-driven coding assistants have amassed nearly $1bn of funding since the start of last year, a signal that software engineering is becoming the first “killer app” for generative artificial intelligence. But this growing conviction in Silicon Valley stands in contrast to questions among some investors about the economic benefits of generative AI. Here are the companies raising money.

• Open-source AI: Free-to-use “open” models help developers catch up to giants such as OpenAI and Google, writes Richard Waters. There’s just one problem: most of these models are not very open.

4. Nestlé chief executive Mark Schneider will step down after eight years and be succeeded by company veteran Laurent Freixe next month. The world’s largest food manufacturer had outperformed many of its consumer goods rivals for much of Schneider’s tenure. But there were setbacks that led up to yesterday’s decision.

5. Nigeria’s presidency has defended its purchase of a multimillion-dollar jet that has swelled the presidential air fleet to almost a dozen carriers even as the country endures its worst economic downturn in decades. Images of President Bola Tinubu flying on the customised Airbus A330 have drawn heavy criticism, with one former minister calling it a symbol of “fiscal recklessness and rascality”.

How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz.

The Big Read

The UK is looking to store some of its 400mn tonnes of annual emissions in salt caverns and depleted oil and gasfields around its coastline to help meet its net zero goals. Heavy polluters in the country’s industrial sector hope the Labour government will decide to fund this effort, but questions persist over its commercial and technical feasibility at any scale. Can Britain make carbon capture work?

We’re also reading . . . 

• German budget: Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s decision to scale back military support to Ukraine will only encourage Russia and undermine European security, writes Ben Hall.

• US economy: Manufacturing jobs have historically been seen as a ticket into the American middle class, writes Soumaya Keynes. But do they pay better?

• Lidl’s cloud unit: Schwarz Group, the discount retailer’s parent group, is offering data services to companies wary of big providers such as Amazon and Google.

• UK politics: Conservative leadership hopefuls must face some hard truths if the party wishes to avoid perpetual opposition, writes Tim Leunig, economic adviser to two Tory chancellors.

Chart of the day

With the continent’s rapidly growing population and high concentration of critical minerals, Africa has been wooed by leaders around the world, but few countries have yet to devise an “Africa strategy” to take full advantage of the relationship, experts say.

Take a break from the news

One of the world’s biggest street festivals begins in London on Sunday, with more than 300 vendors expected at the annual Notting Hill Carnival. But why wait once a year to celebrate the city’s range of Caribbean cuisines? From Anguillan fine dining to the original Jamaican roast dinner, here are five of the UK capital’s best Caribbean eateries.

Additional contributions from David Hindley and Emily Goldberg